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The Yoke's on Me
| runtime = | country = United States | language = English }} The Yoke's on Me is a 1944 comedy film directed by Jules White and starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 79th short film released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 short films for the studio between 1934 and 1959. Plot The Stooges try to join the army but are labeled 4-F by the draft board due to Curly having water on the knee. After they decide to go on vacation until a job comes along, their father (Robert McKenzie) insists they aid the war effort instead by becoming farmers. Inspired, the trio sell their dilapidated car and buy an equally dilapidated farm. The farm contains no livestock except for one ostrich, which eats gunpowder. The boys then spot some pumpkins and decide to carve and sell them. In the interim, several Japanese-Americans escape a prison camp (known during World War II as relocation centers), and work their way onto the Stooges' farm. Curly is the first to notice some suspicious activity (one of the escapees places a carved pumpkin on his head, spooking Curly). Eventually, Moe and Larry believe him, and realize that the farm is surrounded by the Japanese-Americans (whom they mistake for Japanese invaders). Moe then throws an ostrich egg (laden with digested gunpowder) at the escapees, killing them. Production notes The Yoke's on Me was filmed on November 8–12, 1943. The film's title is a pun on the expression, "the joke's on me." Controversy During World War II, the Stooges released several comedies that engaged in propaganda against the then-enemy Japanese, including Spook Louder, No Dough Boys, Booby Dupes and The Yoke's on Me. The Yoke's on Me is especially singled out by modern critics. For many years, the film was blacklisted by some television stations, due to its treatment of Japanese American escapees from a relocation center (the characters are not Japanese POWs). Author Jon Solomon has said, "no Stooge film so profoundly disturbs modern viewers as this one." Author Michael Fleming put it more bluntly: "Knowing what we do now about how Japanese-born American citizens were mistreated and stripped of their belongings in relocation centers makes this as funny as a train wreck." Quotes *'Curly': "Look, look! A pelican!" *'Moe': "That's no pelican, it's a gander." *'Curly': "Mahatma gander?" *'Moe': "No, a gander, a gander! A goose's husband." *'Larry': "Yeah, a papa goose." *'Curly': "Do they have papa gooseses and mama gooseses?" *'Larry': "Oh sure. And little baby gooseses, too." *'Curly': "Oh, I read about them. They come from Germany...the goosetapo!" References External links * * *[http://threestooges.net/episode.php?id=79 The Yoke's on Me at threestooges.net] Category:1944 films Category:American short films Category:The Three Stooges films Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:American black-and-white films Category:1940s comedy films Category:Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler Category:World War II films Category:American World War II propaganda shorts Category:Films directed by Jules White Category:Columbia Pictures short films